italy: so close to the treble...

they were so close! internazionale, the double european cup champions, beat milan to the serie a title, with torino and fiorentina following. so the historical treble, a feat never seen until then, was a clear possibility after herrera's eleven eliminated defending coppa italia champions as roma in the semis to face juve in the final. but it was not to be: juve won that match 1-0, at least partially compensating for a rather disappointing season.still, a season to remember for inter, and one that would take decades to surpass.known as il mago, the argentinian master manager on the full backs burgnich and facchetti, sweeper picchi, spanish playmaker luis suarez, brazilian winger jair and advanced midfielder sandro mazzalo. a great era with a great team. it was their second title after 1963, while juve celebrated their sixth title, third coming from the cup.

spain: miguel munoz building his legend

miguel munoz

fifth consecutive league title for real madrid - one might think that la liga was becoming a very boring league. in the first season after di stefano's retirement and with a 38-year old ferenc puskás, real were renewing the squad well enough to dominate the league, with ramon grosso being the main striker. miguel munoz had won every single league title since leaving the pitch for the merengues and taking over as manager. that chase for the european cup was still on, though... .fc barcelona, on the other hand, had a weak season once again, with a very poor performance for their standards. atlético madrid took full advantage, doing very well in the league as runners-up and winning the spanish cup in a repeat of the previous year final with real zaragoza, this time with the opposite result. zaragoza had reached the final for the third year in a row, losing it for the second time, but this time was also strong in the league, finishing third ahead of valencia cf, who had a good season for the first time in the european cup era. although they had one the fairs cup twice (and lost one final), they had never really impressed in league action until this season.another event worth mentioning was cordoba finishing 5th, with 16 wins in 30 matches - their greatest performance ever!

portugal: benfica miss the double

may 1965

three years earlier, vitória setubal had played benfica in the cup final - and lost 0-3. this time, they surprised the defending champions by winning 3-1 and avoiding the double double.after all, benfica had won the double last season and defended their league title again, to make it three in a row. but they were beaten by a strong setubal side, who also managed 15 wins in 26 league matches. even so, they finished only in 6th, behind 5th placed sporting (disappointing for them), academica de coimbra, gd fabril and runners-up fc porto. all in all, benfica seemed unstoppable in those days. and now had 10 titles in 10 seasons. for vitoria setubal, it was their first.

england: back for good?

busby and his "boys"

in the sixties, no english club had been able to defend their english champion title. this time, liverpool tried - and failed miserably, finishing a distant 7th place. but they did win the fa cup, making it two titles in two seasons... .instead, manchester united celebrated a very special feat indeed: their first title since 1957 and since the munich desaster, still with the same manager (busby) and the same captain (charlton). it was a very tight race until the end with newcomers leeds united, who had a fantastic season and also reached the fa cup final, losing to the aforementioned champions.chelsea also deserves a mention for a strong season and a third place finish, but at the end it was man united who celebrated their third championship in the european cup era, after the very first two seasons. at the time, they were going for the european cup and were tragically interrupted - so now the busby boys would try it again!

germany: werder surprises all-mighty köln

in the beginning of the bundesliga era, 1.fc köln was by far the most professional team in germany. they were huge favorites to win the first edition, in 1964, which they did. and they were tipped to continue winning for quite a few years, with their superior structure, salaries and players. but one year later, they failed to confirm their superiority and came in second against a surprising werder bremen, who therefore became the second bundesliga champion in history. it was trully a team effort in a very balanced championship, and bremen pulled it off even without having a striker with 12 or more goals to his name. this title came four years after winning the cup.the other strong german team of the time, borussia dortmund, came in third and won the dfb-pokal, led by their star striker konietzka. alemannia aachen lost the final. it was bvb's first cup win in the ec era.

the others: linzer ask, rsc anderlecht,

albania: 17 nentöri, now known as kf tirana, celebrated their very first european cup era league title, winning it ahead of four other clubs with almost the same amount of points: dinamo, partizani (the two dominant clubs at the time), besa and kf lokomotiva, know known as kf teuta, a sixth club, vllaznia shkoder, won the cup, also a newcomer in ec era titles.austria: it was moving into that direction - linzer ask was doing a good job in the previous three seasons, and finally came out on top in a closley fought out league season, leaving rapid, admira and wiener sc behind. linz therefore become the first champion outside of wien since the beginning of european cups - and they went one better, also winning the cup (after losing the final two years earlier), against another club from wien, wiener neustadt. a year to remember for lask, there one and only double season.belgium: this season was marked completely by rsc anderlecht. they won the league with ease, defending their title for the first time in the ec cup era. standard liege trailed by a lot; actually, they were closer in the cup final, but lost in extra time to the same rsc anderlecht - a novum in belgian football, the first double in the ec era.bulgaria: history everwhere: levski won their first ec cup era league title to add to their three cups in that period, leaving defending champs lokomotiv trailing by little. they missed the double by little, losing the cup final to cska, who grabbed their first silverware after two years without any celebrations.cyprus; after the turmoil in the previous year, with no champion, apoel nicosia won their first league title in the era, with a clear lead over olympiacos and limassol. omonia nicosia finished in 4th and won the cup for the first time.czechoslovakia: dukla's sequence of titles came to an end in 1965, when they finshed a shameful 8th in the league table. after four consecutive titles, sparta prague took over the top of the league, with another good season of tatran presov coming in second. the cup final had the two old dogs dukla and slovan battle it out - the czechs beat the slovaks it one of the first ever penalty shootouts, guaranteeing dukla at least one title in the last five seasons.denmark: second league title for the odense club b1909 - after 1959, now 1964, dethroning esbjerg after their three consecutive league titles. aarhus were runners-up and clinched their 7th title with their 4th cup win, in a final against 3rd placed kopenhagen; three-time champions esbjerg came in a decent fourth.